It’s not only finals that students are dreading this spring, it’s also the mayhem of registering for fall classes.
The registration period for students taking classes in fall 2023 began on March 27 for seniors and will be open to all students on April 19.
From freshmen to upperclassmen, students said they have struggled to register for classes throughout their time at USC. When junior business administration major Rica Zhang was an underclassman, she would sometimes rely on upperclassmen and their earlier registration dates to try and ensure she would get the classes she needed.
“When I was a freshman and sophomore, I would talk to upperclassmen to help me register beforehand,” Zhang said.
Some students have been relying on the USC Schedule Helper Chrome extension that allows students to view the amount of spots left in a particular class, along with a direct link to the instructor’s “Rate My Professors” page. The reviews left by previous students about a professor often make or break whether or not a student wants to take the course.
The extension created by JonLuca DeCaro currently has over 40,000 installations and over 9,000 weekly users over time.
“WebReg at USC lags significantly behind other institutions,” DeCaro said. “The lack of a concept of queues or waiting lists and lack of notifications are all problems that have been solved at other universities.”
For Zhang, the tool does not make much difference in improving the registration experience.
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but currently it doesn’t work that well,” Zhang said. “The notifications for open spots were always late, and there was misinformation about classes being open.”
Patricia Ramos, the office manager at Marshall School of Business, said she cannot recall a time where a student could not take a required class they needed to graduate throughout her experience at the school.
“It might not be the preferred section and there could be other factors, but we can get them the classes that they need,” she said.
Freshman business administration major Henry Hohman recently registered for classes for the upcoming fall semester, but he was not able to get all of the classes he needed.
“I spent a few hours Monday night trying to figure out the perfect schedule, but when it comes time to register, it doesn’t really matter,” Hohman said. “It’s frustrating when the school doesn’t even give me an opportunity to take the classes I need to fulfill the requirements of my major.”
Hohman was only able to get into two of his required classes, and a course he needed as a prerequisite was not available before his registration date.
Senior global studies and economics major Kaavya Rajesh believes it can be particularly hard to register for classes at Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Of USC’s academic divisions, Dornsife is both the largest and oldest school at USC with over 8,000 undergraduate students and around 900 faculty.
“A lot of classes just get full really fast and it becomes hard to switch around,” Rajesh said. “You have a lot of electives in Dornsife, which is nice, but then you want to choose ones with good professors and times that work.”
Sophomore psychology major Este Odegaard also tried to have upperclassmen reserve spots in required classes, but it has not always worked out.
“I’ve tried to have seniors hold classes for me, but sometimes they don’t fit their schedule either,” Odegaard said. “I either take a professor that has a two rating, or I just put myself on the waiting list and hope that it opens.
The Office of Academic Records and Registrar put out a statement concerning issues students have had with Web Registration saying, “There haven’t been reports of system wide issues for this registration cycle, but we understand issues have come up for some students.”